It Matters Because I Matter

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. I Peter 5:7

My understanding of God’s approachability directly correlates with the measure of my belief that my circumstances are both significant and weightless to Him. When I am able to see God as caring for me despite my shortcomings, I am more likely to get on my knees in prayer.

This is the point in which I can fully experience the deepness of God’s care for me. It’s this deep relationship with my Savior that even James speaks of in James 4:3 when he says, “When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.” I don’t have because I do not ask. I do not ask because I do not believe He cares to hear. I do not believe He cares to hear because I feel my prayers are trivial. And so, I do not ask.

It’s a dangerous cycle of thought that leads to self-destruction. Beginning my prayers with phrases such as, “I know this is silly, but . . .” or “I don’t think you really want to hear this, but . . . ” or “You already know this, but . . . ” sets the stage for this line of reasoning.

But James is telling us to pour it on! Empty our hearts of our unmet needs to the Father in raw honesty. He is telling us of the approachability of our Father to those things that matter to me. Big or small, those things that matter to me matter to Him, because He cares for ME — I matter to Him!

Lord Jesus, are you ready for this? This opens the door to a flood.

Therefore confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16